Ray Paolino

Ray Paolino is an associate professor who received the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Directing from Indiana University, Bloomington. As an actor in New York he performed the leading role in the world premiere of Israel Horovitz’s “Turnstyle” at the Cubiculo Theatre and was in Rip Torn’s production of “Hamlet” with Geraldine Page at the Sanctuary Theatre. He recently performed the role of George in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” at 7 Stages Theatre in in 2008 in Atlanta and the role of Gottschall in “God’s Man in Texas” at the Springer Opera House in 2010. Mr. Paolino’s other acting credits include leading roles in New York for Trinity Theatre, Theatre Matrix, Renaissance Theatre and the IRT Theatre. He has performed or directed over a hundred staged readings of new scripts. He was featured in the Chicago premiere of Edward Allan Baker’s “Acts of Providence” at the WNEP Theatre in 2003. He is a member of Actor’s Equity Association (AEA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG). He appeared in the films “Raging Bull,” “King of Comedy,” “Manhattan,” “The Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover,” and the soap opera “One Life to Live.” Much of Paolino’s work in both the professional and academic arenas has been with the development of new scripts and emerging playwrights. His directing credits in New York include the premiere of “Requiescat in Pace” for Theatre Matrix at Lincoln Center and workshop productions of “Doo-Wop”, “Commencing” and an untitled piece by Jose Rivera, all for Theatre Matrix. He staged the world premiere of Kathleen Cahill’s “The Annunciation of Pat Black” at the Georgia Repertory Theatre as an Equity production in Athens, GA. He has staged new works for Jordi productions in Yorktown (NY), the Bloomington Playwrights’ Project (IN) where he also served as a board member, Theatre Matrix (NYC), and for the Universities of Georgia, Oklahoma and Indiana. He has also directed for the Southwest Repertory Theatre in Santa Fe (NM), Carpenter Square Theatre in Oklahoma City and was artistic director of Oklahoma SummerStage in Norman and Director of Theatre at the University of Georgia. He had directed regularly for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) and the New Play Development Workshop at annual conferences in San Diego, New York and Chicago. For the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), Paolino served as NPP Chair of Playwriting for Region VI in the 1990s, offered workshops in playwriting, responded to dozens of new works in various regions and festivals throughout the nation and established a new play festival. For six years he was NPP Chair of Playwriting, KCACTF Region IV and continues to offer his skills as a respondent to new works for KCACTF. At the Southwest Theatre Association (SWTA), he founded the New Play Contest and served as Chair of New Plays, for which he was given the Distinguished Service Award. As a teacher, Paolino has been honored by both the University of Oklahoma and University of Georgia where he was awarded a Sandy Beaver Teaching Award, selected to the UGA Senior Fellows, the UGA Teaching Academy and was given a teaching award by the Student Government Association (SGA). For UGA he developed a new Drama in Cortona program in Tuscany, Italy and has also taught internationally for the London Drama program offered by the Department of Theatre & Film Studies. Former students of Paolino have appeared on “ER,” West Wing,” “Glee,” “Law and Order,” “The George Carlin Show,” and many others.